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Tuesday July 9, 12:04 pm Eastern Time (On Yahoo business news and Business Wire News Service)

Press Release

SOURCE: Allele Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals

Allele, Inc. Introduces LineSilence Technology for RNA Interference - RNAi

DNA-based transfection technique allows persistent downregulation & greater experiment repeatability with reduced oligo cost.

SAN DIEGO - (BW HealthWire) - July 9, 2002 - Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals has introduced its LineSilence(TM) kits for gene downregulation through RNA interference (RNAi). Allele's patent-pending technology moves RNAi into the mainstream by using short, stable DNA oligos to produce the RNAi effect. Dr. Jiwu Wang, Co-CEO of Allele and inventor of the LineSilence technology, said that, “DNA-based RNAi method is a leap forward in terms of gene silencing technology development. LineSilence provides researchers with a simple and low-cost tool for applying the powerful RNAi mechanism to study their favorite genes. It is also a breakthrough in the sense that it makes permanent RNAi effects possible in cell lines and animal models.” RNAi using short interfering RNA (siRNA) has already been described as “the most exciting insight in biology in the past decade or two,” with applications ranging from functional genomics and target validation to clinical therapeutics.

GenomeWeb

NEW YORK, Aug. 8 (GenomeWeb News) - Allele, of San Diego, said this week that it has received two six-month SBIR grants, for $100,000 each, from the NIH to support its development of its RNAi technology. The company is also planning to introduce a new dsRNA transfection peptide shortly.

The first grant will fund development of Allele's RNAi microarray technology, called Cell Array, which is essentially a system for growing cells that have been transfected with DNA constructs that encode siRNA.

The second grant, the company said, will support the second-generation development of a peptide the company believes can transfect cells with RNAi-based polynucleotides 10 and 100 times more efficiently than cationic lipids.

Jiwu Wang, president of Allele, told GenomeWeb that his company has been working on the peptide technology for about half a year and it has proven more successful than previously expected. As such, Allele has sent out beta versions to different research facilities for testing and expects to have a final product ready for commercialization in about a month.

He said that Allele is in discussions with Promega - which already distributes its LineSilence DNA oligo-based gene target screening system under the name SilentGene - about promoting the peptide. However, he added that Allele would prefer if possible to handle the marketing effort itself......

References to Allele Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Science Magazine (link to sciencemag.org article)

Signals Magazine (link to signalsmag.com article)